The present invention relates to a carrier for a package containing a stack of film sheets and, more particularly, to such a carrier for a stack of film sheets which are flexed to reduce the tendency of the sheets to stick together.
The related patent application mentioned above discloses a magazine having a space for receiving a package comprising a stack of film sheets enclosed within a bag or pouch of a flexible packaging material. The bag is removed while the package is within the magazine, and the magazine includes members which effect flexing of the film sheets in response to removal of the bag. This flexing of the sheets reduces the tendency of the sheets to stick together, thereby improving reliability of feeding of the sheets seriatim from the magazine and reducing the likelihood that multiple sheets will be fed simultaneously.
It is known to provide carriers in film packages containing rectangular sheets of x-ray film, for example. Carriers of this kind can be generally U-shaped or J-shaped with a first wall of the carrier being positionable on one side of the stack of sheets within a bag or pouch, and with a second wall of the carrier positionable on the opposite side of the stack of sheets. An edge wall integrally formed with the first wall and the second wall is positioned along a side edge of the stack of sheets and extends in a lateral direction the full width of the first and second walls. Carriers of this kind are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,229, which issued Apr. 10, 1990 in the names of S. Yamada et al, and is entitled "Sheet Film Package and Buffer Sheet Member".
Carriers of the kind described above can be formed from thin bleached white stiffener board that is similar to cardboard. This material is difficult to bend when it is in a U or J shape as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,229. Also, the continuous, uninterrupted edge wall of prior carriers discourages flexing of the package. However, a package used with the magazine described in the before-mentioned, related patent application needs to flex as the bag is removed from the stack of film sheets. Thus conventional carriers make it difficult to achieve the desirable flexing of sheets in a package by the magazine of the copending application.